Albany military dog adopted by original handler

A four-legged member of the Armed Services got a new home today with a familiar face. Cindy is a 5-year-old Dutch shepherd. Her military career was brief but distinguished. She served two security details for President Obama and several details for former President Jimmy Carter.

Now, she's back in the company of the man that taught her everything she knows.

"It was my intent to have her a week after I started training her," said Jon Reynolds. "The bond was there a week after I had her."

Reynolds has trained a lot of dogs in his time as a handler but there was something special about Cindy. "Every now and then, you run into one that you just bond with, almost like a mate," said Reynolds. "It's a chemical reaction with the animal."

Cindy proved her military mettle back in 2009 by outperforming two odor detection machines in a Navy evaluation. But her career was cut short in June 2010 when she broke her leg during a training exercise.

When Reynolds heard Cindy would be put up for adoption, he dropped everything and drove from North Carolina to be first in line. "We haven't seen each other for about nine months and she still has this attraction toward me so as you can see, it's far more than a handler/dog relationship," said Reynolds.

Reynolds said he always planned on adopting Cindy after she finished her nine years of service. He also told us if the injury meant she would be without one leg, he wanted her anyway.

"Everyone in the community should know that this dog is going to be well taken care of because this dog, as you can see, has a close affection to her former handler," said Randy Jack, chief of police for the Marine Corps Police Dept.

"She will have a nice place on a couch by a fireplace," said Reynolds.

And Cindy won't be lonely at her new home in North Carolina. Reynolds already has a black lab and a Belgian Malamar.